


Melt My Heart like Wax

by aphaire



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mentions of Noctis and Regis in the background but they aren't in this at all, Not Beta Read, Wax museum au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 02:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15281670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphaire/pseuds/aphaire
Summary: “Who the fuck is this supposed to be?” A confused face moved into Nyx’s peripherals, and before Nyx could think, he continued. “Hm, kinda hot though.”And—Nyx burst out laughing.---A meet cute at a wax museum, in which Nyx is an off-shift security guard and Prompto can't tell the difference between a human and a statue.





	Melt My Heart like Wax

**Author's Note:**

> I can't decide if I want to so more of this/HOW I want to do more of this, so I'm putting this as a one chapter fic for now. Might add more chapters later, or might do other ficlets set in the same universe. We'll see.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy the fic!

Nyx stared at the wall, tired and bored. He wondered if he had enough money to pay rent this month and still have enough left over to treat his friends to a night out at that one diner. The one that made curry that was _actually_ spicy, unlike most places around here. Fuck, what was it called? It was named after one of those Astrals…what was their name again? The fire one. F…..fire it. Firit. Frit. Fruit. Fuck.

He sighed and turned his head slightly to look at the clock. Libertus really was taking his time, wasn't he? Fuckin' hell. His shift should have been done by now. What's taking him? He better not be flirting with someone.

Maybe he was flirting with one of the wax statues. Nyx’s lip twitched at the thought.

He entertained the idea that Libertus forgot that they were meeting here, somehow, despite it being the same place they always meet—next to the wall with the seemingly random starburst motif at the back of the recent history exhibit. Or maybe Libertus was cursed by a witch and got turned into a wax statue, a misfit among the ancient Solheim recreations. Or he got turned into a frog and needed his true love to kiss him back to normal.

Another person came into the exhibit somewhere between him making up increasingly ridiculous ideas for what happened to his friend, and him wondering why the starburst motif was here (was this room once a shrine to the ancient Astral of the sun, back before the castle was turned into a museum, way back when people still believed in the ancients? What if this place was haunted by the ghosts of Helios’ followers—wait, how could he remember _that_ name, but not whatever fire tits was called? Gods dammit).

He was aware of the guy walking around and taking pictures of various famous wax figures, pausing sometimes to probably read about them. But it was like, a distant awareness. Like how you stop actively noticing the noise of traffic once you get used to living in a city. Nyx was far more preoccupied with entertaining himself with his thoughts.

So he didn't react when the guy started walking up to him—he didn't really notice him at all, honestly. But, frankly, he was glad he didn't. Because then he would have moved or talked, and he wouldn't have heard those two sentences. The two beautiful, wonderful sentences. The ones that made every boring day working as a security guard at a fucking wax museum completely worth it.

“Who the fuck is this supposed to be?” A confused face moved into Nyx’s peripherals, and before Nyx could think, he continued. “Hm, kinda hot though.”

And—Nyx burst out laughing. The other man's eyes turned horrified as they made eye contact.

“Thanks.” Nyx grinned, noting the red flushing high on the man's cheeks. He took a moment to look at his freckles, the blue eyes, the styled hair. “You're not so bad yourself.”

“Oh. Oh shit—” The guy waved his hands in front of his face frantically. “Sorry! I didn't know—oh gods, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—”

“What are you apologising for?” Nyx laughed. “You didn't say anything wrong. In fact, I'd even say you said something very right.” He winked.

Nyx could practically see the buffering symbol over the guy's head as he processed what Nyx said. Then his hands moved to cover his face, and he sounded like he was saying something, maybe, but Nyx couldn't understand it. He topped it off with a frustrated whine.

Nyx glanced over his shoulder. Libertus still wasn't in sight. Maybe that's a good thing. “What's your name? I'm Nyx.”

The man looked at him through his fingers. “...Prompto.”

“Prompto?” He grinned down at the younger man. “A lovely name for a lovely face.”

Prompto's eyes squeezed shut, and when they opened they squinted at Nyx, accusatory. “What do you think you're doing?”

Nyx cocked an eyebrow. “Flirting? Hopefully successfully.”

Prompto's hands went to his hips. “No! I mean—okay, you're maybe also doing that—”

“The flirting, or the successfully?”

Oh sweet Astrals, Prompto's face could get redder. That's. That's impressive. Nyx’s grin grew.

“The whole standing still in the middle of a wax museum thing!” Prompto gestured widely, other hand on his hip. “What the fuck! Who even _does_ that?”

“Assholes, probably.”

Prompto snorted at that, before rubbing his face with a groan. “So, what,” he said, “you some jerk who stands around waiting for people to scare? Or are you waiting for a victim to talk to, like some loner weirdo?”

“Honestly?” Nyx leaned forward like he was sharing a secret, and was amused to see Prompto leaning forward too. He looked over his shoulders, checking the entrances with serious eyes, before whispering: “I zone out like my life depends on it.”

That earned him a laugh, and Prompto stood straight again. “That so?”

Nyx maintained his serious demeanor, nodding without breaking eye contact. “Swear on my life. I think I could zone out during a robbery. Whether I was the one doing the robbing or not.”

“You're weird.” Prompto crossed his arms with a grin.

“Fuck you, I'm laying my life down before you, and this is what my trust gets me?” He put a hand over his heart. “I’m wounded.”

“Do you swear at everyone you just met?”

“Ouch, so cold.” Nyx leaned against the wall like he needed its support. “The pain, it is unbearable.”

Prompto rolled his eyes at him. “You’re being dramatic,” he said, but his grin grew.

“Heartbreak. Betrayal. Pain.” He closed his eyes like a dying man. “You owe me.”

“Yeah?”

“How about a date?”

He peaked at the man before him with one eye. Prompto stared at him, wide-eyed, and his smile seemed frozen on his face.

Gods, Nyx hoped that was surprised shock and not horrified shock. He thought he was doing a fine job of flirting so far. But as no further response from Prompto came, Nyx’s heart sank.

“So is the silence a yes, or should I quit my job and never be seen around here again?”

Prompto blinked. “What?”

Nyx gestured vaguely, standing up properly. “I just don't know what, uh, this reaction means.”

“O-oh, uh! Sorry, I just—” Prompto sounded bewildered. “I’m just processing the fact that you’re—you were actually flirting with me. You weren't just joking around. And also just asked me out.”

“Is that…a bad thing?”

“No! I mean. I don’t think so? I’m just surprised.” Prompto looked away nervously, scratching the back of his neck. “We only just met. I don’t know you.”

Nyx shrugged. “That’s what going on dates is for. Getting to know each other better.” He watched the man before him think, the slight frown on his face and the way his blush faded with his concentration. Between this entire delayed reaction and the way Prompto froze when Nyx was revealed to not, in fact, be a wax statue, Nyx figured that Prompto needs time to deal with surprises. It was kind of cute, in a strange way. Nyx smiled.

And whoops, Prompto was blushing again. Nyx’s smile grew. “S-sure. You know what? Let’s go on a date sometime.” He looked away and muttered “My friends are always telling me to take more risks anyway…”

“I’ll be the best risk you’ve ever taken,” Nyx said. _I’m probably the least risky risk anyone could take,_ he didn’t say.

“Okay. Yeah. Cool.” Prompto looked up at him. “So, uh, do we exchange numbers here, or…?”

“Ah! Right. Yes.” He patted his pockets and froze. “Do you have a pen and paper? Actually, no, don’t answer that. Hand me your phone, I’ll just enter my number straight into it.”

Prompto gave him an amused look and handed his phone over. “Is this the part where _you’re_ the one getting nervous?”

“Me? Nervous? Never.” It’s not like Nyx had zero expectation of getting this far given how this interaction started. He wasn’t a mess of a human being hurtling through life like a meteor that doesn’t think about where it’s going until it crashes. Nope. That's not him at all. He planned this from the start.

He handed the phone back. He took note of the little bird keychain hanging off of it. Cute. “I’ll text you when I get home and can get a proper idea of what my work schedule is looking like. You would think a museum would be organised with its scheduling, but nope.”

Prompto looked surprised. “You work here?”

“Uh, yeah? Who goes to a wax museum by themselves? They’re creepy.” And then he realised Prompto came in here alone. “Not—not that the _person_ is creepy! Just the museum. And there’s nothing wrong with coming alone—having an independent interest in history is good—”

Prompto snorted, and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “My buddy lives upstairs, I decided to finally check out his family business.” He looked at Nyx with an amused look in his eyes. “Are you creeped out by the statues?”

Fuck. Nyx has completely lost control of the conversation. “Look, we all have to work somewhere.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“I’m completely fine with the lifeless statues,” he said. “Everything about this is fine.”

“You don’t sound very con—”

“Libertus!” Nyx called out as his frazzled looking friend appeared in the entrance. Libertus looked over at Nyx in confusion. “You sure took your time getting here, didn’t you?” Nyx gestures at him, talking to Prompto. “That’s my friend, Libertus. I was waiting for his shift to end so we could head home together.”

“Uh-huh.” Prompto looked over at Libertus as he approached. “Hi there.”

“Hey.” Libertus looked between Nyx and Prompto. He jerked a thumb at Nyx. “Is this idiot flirting with you?”

“Uh—”

“Yes,” Nyx interjected quickly. “And it’s going very well and we’re going to go on a wonderful date later.” He gave Libertus a hard look.

“Right,” Libertus said slowly. “Listen. A warning—”

“No warnings necessary,” Nyx said.

“—Nyx is an airhead. I’d bet my next paycheck that he’s going to be late to your first date. Text him like, an hour before to remind him it’s happening, especially if there’s a time constraint.”

“Hey!” Nyx glanced at Prompto, who was looking at them with amusement instead of apprehension, _thankfully_. “I’m not the one who showed up like, forty minutes after his shift ended and didn’t bother texting his friend that he’s gonna be late.”

Libertus dragged a hand over his face. “ _Nyx_.”

Uh oh. He knew that tone of voice.

Nyx waved a hand through the air frantically. “You know what? Let’s forget about all this—”

“I _told_ you I was going to negotiate a raise with Mr. Caelum after work.” He levelled Nyx with a steady look. “I told you _at least_ three times over the last two days.”

Nyx felt a blush rise on his cheeks. Fuck, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go. “Whoops,” he said with a small chuckle. “Maybe you should have texted about me it?”

Libertus looked at him with a dangerous sheen in his eyes. Oh god, _did_ Libertus text him? How did he not see that—how did he forget— _had he not checked his phone in the last hour?_

“Thanks for the heads up,” Prompto said—the sweet angel, a blessing personified, the kind man to save Nyx from further shaming from his friend. “I’ll keep it in mind. But I should get going, Noct is probably wondering if I got lost.”

“Right, okay.” Nyx waved at Prompto. “I’ll text you later.”

Prompto waved his phone as he backed up towards the entrance. “No, I’ll text you. You don’t have my number, remember?” He gave Nyx a cheeky grin. “Plus, this way there’s no chance of you forgetting to text me when you get home.”

“A-ah, right.” Awkwardness and blushing wasn’t a good look on Nyx. He didn’t like it. “Talk to you then.”

Nyx and Libertus watched Prompto as he left. After a moment, Libertus said “I can't believe you actually managed to give someone your number.”

Nyx put his face in his hands. “That was going so well at first, fuck.”

“He seemed nice, too. Colour me surprised.”

Nyx glared at him. “What do you mean by that?”

Libertus shrugged. “Nice, normal folks tend to have the sense to stay away from you. He seemed like he actually intended to give you a chance, even after your charms started failing and he could see the fumbling fucker behind the smile.” He smiled at Nyx mischievously. “Let's see how long that lasts.”

“I've gone on dates with normal people before,” Nyx said, affronted. “And I was still charming there, what are you saying?”

“Yeah, okay.” Libertus clapped a hand on Nyx’s shoulder, leading him towards the back exit. “How many of them come back for a second date?”

Nyx groaned. “You're the worst. Honestly, what kind of wingman are you?”

“The Icarus kind.”

Nyx gave his smirking friend a dark look. “Why are we friends again?”

“Because assholes attract each other.”

Nyx snorted and shook Libertus’ hand off of his shoulder. “At least you know what you are.”

“Never denied it. Glad to see you aren't, either.”

“Hey, I'm a _charming_ asshole. That's better.”

“If you say so,” Libertus said. “Anyway, where you planning on taking him out?”

Nyx froze as they made it outside. “Oh, fuck. Right.” He looked at Libertus. “What's that one diner called again? The one with the good curry.”

“Ifrit’s Diner and Grill?”

“Damn,” Nyx said. “I was actually really close with fire tits.”

“ _Excuse_ me?”

**Author's Note:**

> Prompto, trying to decide if he should agree to the date or not: I don’t know him?? BUT he’s hot??? But i don’t KNOW him!! OH NO HE’S SMILING AT ME FUCK I CAN'T SAY NO TO THAT
> 
> Thanks for reading c:


End file.
